I've encountered exercise induced asthma on a handful of occasions over the three years (usually a < 5km TT or a 110% crit lap), but this virus I came down with on Christmas day has knocked me for six and I've just finished five days on steroids to bring the wheeze and cough under control. For the first couple of weeks, in the middle of the night I would wake and cough almost to the point of vomiting. The Doctor for the first two visits after Christmas didn't even record the wheeze & ventolin recommendation in the notes. Second doctor (third visit) was obviously pissed about this, but was in a hurry and didn't have time to go into detail other than to say that it wasn't a simple diagnosis. And... that's as far as it's gone.

So - Is this occasional wheezy asthma/severe night-time cough triggered by a virus normal, or am I starting down the slippery slope of preventers / ventolin / steroids etc.? Is this a GP thing, or should I be chasing a referral to someone who will give a damn?

I'd get to your area Consultant Thoracic Physician and have it completely monitored. You get no warning, a severe attack can have you not breathing in about 60seconds/and blackout.Then you had better have someone around to get an ambulance. FME.

Lone Rider- I rode on the long, dark road... before I danced under the lights.

I've been on the works for the last 30 plus years. Last time i went to hospital i was pretty crook and was there for a few days. Go back to one GP and he said "oh well, that's just bad luck". Well, its not and i don't want to be there again - what do i have to change? It really seems to be up to me and i have a few repeats of prednisolone to take at my leasure... Dunno if that's normal or whether they know i've been there enough to know when i need it myself.

Could just be you unable to shake the virus but also sounds like you're not "controlled" as far as controlled goes. Or a completely unrelated thing. My sister's kid has had an uncontrolled cough for the last 6 months and has been to a multitude of doctors and tested for everything from whooping cough to a bad luck virus. He seriously could not talk when he got going and you could see his head get redder and redder. He was exhausted from one week to the next and missed heaps of school.

Unfortunately the big cheese of thoracic medicine in Canberra had a horrendous bike related injury about 6 months back (i'm sure you know who I mean and what happened) but he is improving tremendously and is back working part time. Not operating though.

I'd be pissed with that answer too though. You still don't know where you standard whether you're just exercise asthma or "normal" asthma. What do you take pre exercise? I get it if i went flat knacker too and for a while the docs tried me on Intal as well as everything else as they reckoned that was beneficial if you're just sus when you're exercising.

Nothing - I've only triggered the 'exercise' type four times, but one of them was the other week when I already had the wheeze/cough. I was told to take 2-5 puffs if I was suffering.

No shortness of breath, I can exercise at 100%... but I cough up phlegm and (recently) have had the worst wheeze when breathing out fully. Since taking 'sone the phlegm and wheeze have backed right off... but I'm feeling a bit "out in the cold" as it were. No issue carrying ventolin, but in two months time I'll be doing the Gunning prologue, and I know I'm going to start coughing about a minute after I cross the line.

Three weeks ago : Maximal Aerobic Power run on the Thursday, 20+ minutes 457W for the last minte... no issue. On the Sunday, 1km CompuTrainer TT - 1 minute and 20 seconds after a brief warmup... cough went from being niggling to "I have EIA" within a minute.

I'm the same. In my younger days I did the crits at Kingston. I went flat knacker but it was the slowing down after finishing that did me in. I need to cool down really slowly or something cos if i just stop I'm cactus ad pretty much coughing my guts up straight away too.

If you're that niggly (not YOU, but your problem if you get my drift... ) i wouldn't have been happy with potentially being blown off by the doc either.

Given your description of recurring episodes of "something", it's not clear if you have been formally diagnosed as asthmatic or were just treated symptomatically. Irrespective, this is clearly an issue that a competent GP can correctly investigate, diagnose and treat. The key is to find competency and stay with the same doctor for the duration. Changing doctors will just get you bits and pieces of nothing. Then at your GP's discretion, it may or may not be appropriate to be referred to a respiratory physician. But just from your description, it doesn't sound particularly complicated.

Asthma is but one overlapping condition under the COPD/CAL umbrella. Your responsiveness to Spiriva is suggestive of COPD of some form though. Don't get too hung up on whether you have or have not the asthma label.

sogood wrote:Given your description of recurring episodes of "something", it's not clear if you have been formally diagnosed as asthmatic or were just treated symptomatically. Irrespective, this is clearly an issue that a competent GP can correctly investigate, diagnose and treat. The key is to find competency and stay with the same doctor for the duration. Changing doctors will just get you bits and pieces of nothing. Then at your GP's discretion, it may or may not be appropriate to be referred to a respiratory physician. But just from your description, it doesn't sound particularly complicated.

Regular medical centre, but my regular (good) doctor is away and I'm at the mercy of locums. But... it was my regular who originally suggested ventolin years ago when I had what I thought was just a chest infection. No diagnosis, the doctor I saw last week didn't want to discuss that, I can't remember the exact wording but my understanding was "not my area". Obviously, the previous doctor not including the notes didn't help... I walked in and said "look at my history since Christmas", and all that was written was "cough".

Sounds like I should wait till my regular doctor is back and schedule some time.

As an adult, more than children (unless you've had since childhood) it is quite dangerous,so I was informed from my Consultant Thoracic Physician.And this sounds familiar (to me)... and this is how it goes (as described)

After he woke on Tuesday night, she tried to comfort Jayden, giving him his Ventolin puffer which he inhaled through his spacer, as prescribed by their doctor.

“He sort of went a little bit funny,” she told The Daily Advertiser.

“It is hard to describe.

“The next thing I knew he was falling to the ground. He looked like he was asleep.”

Ms Britt quickly realised Jayden was not breathing.

Calling for an ambulance, she said Jayden began to turn blue around the mouth.

Yeah, lots of warning in the press ATM re. ventolin being capable of making asthma worse, not better.

I'm all-clear at the moment, still haven't caught up with the regular doctor, but was still phlegm-y for a good two weeks after finishing the steroids, it's only the last week that I've felt like I'm finally over it. Unfortunately... fitness down the toilet, along with motivation.

I was diagnosed 6 or 7 years ago, mainly exercise induced to start with...but then over a few years I noticed I was having mild attacks at random times nothing to do with exercise.I thought they were becoming more and more common but never really bad, I have had two good friends die from asthma so have seen how horrible it can be. I tried stopping any medication for a while ( puffer ) and the episodes stopped over time. It would be a year or so since my last attack... but I was never so bad that I really need meds to live, so wasn't a big issue trying with out them, but as the attacks were becoming more common I thought I would try with out for a while.I do still have a pile of puffers if needed but they will end up in the bin in the next year or so.

I rode 40 kms pretty much most days last week. Albeit a bit more "huffy puffy" than normal as it is starting to get cold. A week ago was down the coast and playing pipes at an event and was fine. Saturday just gone same deal at bundanoon. A few degrees temperate difference and i could barely walk down the main street at snail pace and spent all day coughing and spluttering and OD'ing on ventolin (despite a routine seretide double dose morning and night..) and couldn't blow at all in the afternoon. yesterday i was crippledly sore around the chest.

All i want is to be able to survive winter including riding my bike, going outside, doing other sporty things between April and October and not have to think about every other breath i take. Is that too much to ask? peak flow 280 this morning...

I had one good doctor, but she retired. She rode and "got it" about what i wanted out of life. Should I have to hear "well you'll have to give up cycling over winter" time and time again??. Here, take more prednisolone yet again..." That surely isn't the answer and I'm not prepared to accept it as mine. I don't want to blob around on public transport while i can ride my bike for free in a shorter time. i don't want to have to pray the phone doesn't ring at work for the first half hour less i can't have a simple conversation with a customer. i would like other people to think that i am not blowing black death all over them each and every time i speak to them.

In the past i've dealt with it - well, i guess i've had to. but now it's pithing me off.

Cp123 It may pay to go back to the Dr as I never did any good with seritide for my exercise induced asthma, I am now on Atravent & Symbicort in the morning & that has made all the difference, I haven't had to take ventalin for ages.

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